Explaining the Health Insurance Exchange to RI's Latino Community

Representatives of HealthSource RI, the state-run health insurance exchange, are meeting with Latino business owners in Central Falls Wednesday. It’s part of a push to educate the state’s growing Latino community about the upcoming exchange. Rhode Island Public Radio’s Catherine Welch was at a similar meeting last week in Pawtucket, where she learned about the challenges of translating a complex health care system to non-English speakers.

A crowd gathered in Pawtucket to hear about HealthSource RI, the state's health insurance exchange

Credit Catherine Welch / RIPR

A crowd of curious residents nearly fill Pawtucket’s Tierra Restaurant. Munching on the buffet, they listen to a presentation from The Providence Plan that’s given in English with a Power Point in Spanish. When the presenters want to make a point, or there’s a question from the audience, Carmen Mirabal steps up to the microphone to explain more thoroughly in Spanish.

I sat down with Carmen Mirabal after the presentation, we started our conversation talking about the common questions she hears when she explains the state’s health insurance exchange to the Latino community.

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